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Chapter 5
Funeral
Sarah woke up early on the morning of the funeral. She looked at the clock knowing she didn’t need to be anywhere until noon she tired to go back to sleep but she couldn't. Before she could get up and get the kids prepared for the day ahead of them her third youngest daughter Penny crawled in bed with her. Penny could see the tears in her moms eyes and she didn’t like it one bit. Her mom was always the strongest person in her life. Her mom was the one that always held everyone together even when she was falling apart herself. But today Penny knew her mom couldn’t handle her and her siblings fighting or much of anything really.
"Mom? Are we going to be able to make it through today?". Sarah looked at her daughter then kissed her forehead.
"Yes, as long as we all stick together sweetie". Penny smiled which Sarah hadn't seen her do in days.
"Okay mom, well you look tired you should take a nap I’ll ask Jackson to make us all breakfast". Sarah smiled and hugged her tight
"No I think you should cuddle with me for an hour or so, and then we'll get up and make breakfast together for anyone else".
Finally after Penny, Sarah was able to fall asleep easily for about an hour. And for the first time in weeks she didn’t have any nightmares at all.
When Sarah woke up for the second time she looked at her daughter and thought to herself, she should fall asleep with her kids more often they're better then the dream catcher hanging from her ceiling. She got up slowly and carefully trying not to wake Penny knowing that she desperately needed rest because today was going to be an extremely hard day especially for her kids. Wandering in the kitchen she spotted a note on the kitchen table from Sean. Reading the letter Sarah started to cry because it was so sweet.
Dear mom,
I just wanted to say that I love you even though you've been sad lately because of what happened to dad. I'm sure you miss him as much as all of us do, which is normal. I also wanted to say that me and my brothers and sisters are always going to be here for you no matter what. If you ever need a shoulder to cry on just come to one of us and at least one shoulder will be free, I don’t know which one but its okay they're both the same. Anyway I hope this made you feel a little better mom I wrote it thinking it would cheer you up and I hope it did. I love you, and I’ll see you in the morning.
-Love, Sean
Two hours later Sarah and her big family were in the car on there way to Todd’s funeral. It was hard but they all believed that if they stuck together that they would be okay, and that they wouldn’t break down. They pulled into the church parking lot and before getting out they just sat there for a few minutes to scared to get out too scared to face anyone right away. Little Jake was the first person to get out of the car, he admitted that he was scared but he knew that they had to face their fears or they would never be able to go on with there lives. The little speech Jake gave made Sarah tear up a little but she kept it together and they all got out of the car and went inside. Together the Windlin family faced everyone they had to. Friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, and some people they didn’t even know came to pay their respects. Secretly Sarah wondered if Todd’s "Daughter" had shown up. But she would never know because at that time she didn’t know what the women looked like. She decided to push it out of her mind she couldn’t let that stuff get to her she had to be there for her kids.
Many people had stories and memories to share of Todd. Everybody laughed, cried, and smiled. Until Jackson gave his speech which made everybody laugh, cry, and smile like nothing before.
"Well, today we're all here to say goodbye to my dad. Who was brutally murdered a few weeks ago". He heard a few sobs before he went on.
"My dad was amazing at least he was to us anyway. He was always there when ever you needed him no matter what if he was at work he'd rush home or wherever you were. He was always the first one to make you laugh or smile after we'd fallen off our bikes. Not that mom wasn't there because she so was but im just saying this is about dad not mom. You understand right mom?". That got a few laughs, and a big smile from Sarah.
"Yes honey I understand". Jackson smiled
"that’s good im glad. So let me go on dad was hmmm how should I say this he was a goodhearted human being, he worried about us way way more then he worried about himself. We always had to tell him dad! stop worrying about us you need to think about yourself too, but we always told him in a good way of course". Jackson looked down and wiped tears away
"I don’t know how much longer im going to be able to talk without my voice cracking so im just going to say this I loved my dad and so did my family, and so did so many other people and he didn’t deserve to be murdered. To be taken away from all of us, he might have made mistakes in the past but inside he was a good man to all of us and we loved him". Then Jackson gave in and started balling he couldn’t do it anymore even though he had a much longer speech prepared he couldn’t speak any longer and everyone understood that. His family rushed up to hug him and lead him out of the church they all needed some fresh air.
Chapter 6
Investigation Part Two
A week before the funeral on the day of the murder, detectives investigated as best they could around the house. Especially in the bedroom. On the window they happened to find blood stains and bloody fingerprints. They were able to recover a few fingerprints, enough to figure out who murdered Todd but not enough to keep testing them over and over. So they had to make sure they really had a good feeling about who they thought killed Todd before they tested the prints.
Also in the bedroom there was of course a lot of blood, most of it came from the body but there was a bit of blood by the window and on the glass that was broken, and it wasn’t Todd Windlins blood. The detectives knew that this blood would help them a lot in their investigation.
A week and a half after the funeral the police still had no leads so they decided to question Sarah one day and her son Jackson the next. Sarah got the call from police while she was at work. She tried to tell them that she couldn’t leave because there was no one to cover for her but the cops called the school to make sure there was someone to cover for her, and then she had to leave no matter what.
Sarah showed up at the Police Station immediately she was taken into an interrogation room.
"So Mrs. Windlin... We have a couple questions for you".
"Okay well I have answers for those couple questions, There not going to be lawyer required questions are they?"
"Well that is entirely up to you Sarah. Is it okay if I call you that?"
"Yes, that’s fine okay so lets get this over with I have to pick up my son in an hour"
"Well im not sure that we'll be done in an hour is there anyone you could call to pick up your son for you?" She looked coldly at the detective.
"No there isn't if this requires more time we can pick this up were we left off another time".
"That’s fine Sarah, So the first question is how long have you known Todd?"
"Well we met in high school we got together when he turned 19 which was when we both went off to college together so ive known him for 20 years all together, we dated 8 years before we were married".
"That’s quite a long time, now all those years did you ever feel like someone had a grudge against or just didn’t like your husband?"
"Well no actually my husband was a very very lovable guy he had a lot of friends, Every time we had a party he invited like 50 people and they almost always showed up every single one of them we always had such a good time".
"He sounds like a very nice man. Now did your husband ever mention that he had a daughter that he shared with another women?"
Sarah looked down at her hands and wiped her eyes
"No I never knew about a daughter, but after we found the note that was in his coat pocket we called his parents to see if they knew anything about it".
"And?"
"Well they didn't but Todd’s brother happened to be there and he I guess over heard the whole phone call because minutes after I hung up with his parents I got a call from him. He told me that Todd had admitted to him that he got his old girlfriend pregnant when they were still teenagers".
"Is that so? Why do you think he never told you or never brought his daughter around?"
"His brother told me that he didn’t want anything to do with the child but he wasn’t exactly sure why. I believe the reason why he didn’t tell me is because he knows that im a strong believer that every child should have both a mother and a father in their life no matter what because every kid needs at least two strong figures to raise them. He knew that I would be very upset if I found out he abandoned his poor daughter. I love all children I would of been quite angry if I found out he left his daughter especially with an abusive mother".
"Well that was quite a mouthful Sarah." she looked at the clock
"Oh im sorry I have to go im 15 minutes late picking up my son" she got up and ran out the door and drove away to pick up her son.
The police changed pace after their interview with Sarah. They didn’t suspect she did this anymore. Usually its always the people who seem to innocent to do something like that but in this case they are trying to focus more on the kids of Todd. They say that he treated them well but after the letter they read that was from his oldest daughter Caroline saying how bad he treated her who knows who they can believe. Which is why they decided to question Todd’s oldest son Jackson. The reason why the picked Jackson is because he was no longer living with the family prier to Todd dying so they think they might be able to get something out of him.
"So Mr. Windlin how old are you?"
"I just turned 19"
"So your only about a year younger then your dads oldest daughter?"
"Um I guess I don’t know. I didn’t even know that he had another daughter, nobody did".
"Yes, so we heard well we wanted to ask you a few questions about your dad".
"Okay" The detective shifted in his seat a little.
"So obviously your dad has been in your life since you were born. How was your dad towards you?"
"My dad was always great he was always there to pick us up when we were down, he fixed our cuts and scrapes. He never really yelled he was strict but he made sure he took care of us. I think if he ever didn’t mom would of kicked him out".
"Is that so? So who do you think did this to your dad Jackson?"
"Um im not sure im really not comfortable talking about who murdered my dad!" Jackson got up abruptly and left the police station. The detectives decided not to cross him off the suspect list just yet.
The Gift of Illusion: A Paranormal Thriller by Richard Brown
